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A review by kba76
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Vague recollections of having read this - and other such stories - as a child, but reading it again as an adult was quite a different experience. Not a good one I have to say.
From the time we meet Quatermain he’s presented as an honourable gentleman, someone to trust. But when he is enlisted to help find the missing brother who went in search of Solomon’s treasures, his priority is to secure the fortune of his son. He offers snippets of information, but clearly holds back until in a position to benefit from what he knows. His obsession with the superiority of the white man and the naïveté of those he encounters is something that is hard to overlook.
The beginning of the journey focuses on the hunting experiences where little respect is shown to the environment they are in. When crossing the desert and saved by the knowledge of the native inhabitants, our characters exploit what they see as weaknesses to show their perceived superiority. The descriptions of anyone not a British gentleman are reductive and, quite frankly, offensive.
When they get to the fabled King Solomon’s Mines I’d never been so hopeful that they would befall a grisly death! Unfortunately, that was not the case and the smugness shown upon their safe return - having just happened to stumble across the missing man they had been searching for - just made me resent these characters even more.
From the time we meet Quatermain he’s presented as an honourable gentleman, someone to trust. But when he is enlisted to help find the missing brother who went in search of Solomon’s treasures, his priority is to secure the fortune of his son. He offers snippets of information, but clearly holds back until in a position to benefit from what he knows. His obsession with the superiority of the white man and the naïveté of those he encounters is something that is hard to overlook.
The beginning of the journey focuses on the hunting experiences where little respect is shown to the environment they are in. When crossing the desert and saved by the knowledge of the native inhabitants, our characters exploit what they see as weaknesses to show their perceived superiority. The descriptions of anyone not a British gentleman are reductive and, quite frankly, offensive.
When they get to the fabled King Solomon’s Mines I’d never been so hopeful that they would befall a grisly death! Unfortunately, that was not the case and the smugness shown upon their safe return - having just happened to stumble across the missing man they had been searching for - just made me resent these characters even more.